Campfire Time-Lapse

I was feeling creative yesterday so I decided to try my luck at Time-lapse Photography.

Some of you may be wondering what this is.

Time-lapse photography is a cinematography technique whereby each film frame is captured at a rate much slower than it will be played back. When replayed at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster and thus lapsing. Time-lapse photography can be considered to be the opposite of high speed photography.

Processes that would normally appear subtle to the human eye, such as the motion of the sky, clouds or people, become very pronounced.

For those who may be interested, this was my first ever attempt at time-lapse photography and I have already learned a lot. Most importantly it's probably better to shoot it earlier in the day when it's lighter. But it was all new territory for me.

I used my Nikon D80 tethered to my laptop with Nikon Camera Control Pro 2 and set the program to shoot 350 photos at 3 second intervals. There is no post-production on the individual photos. I shot each photo with the White Balance set at Manual Sunlight at ISO 100, f14, 1/15 second. The lens was set at 18mm.

I next used Quicktime Pro to create the video at 10 frames per second. Then I added the .mov file to the ProShow Gold 4 software and added music and the intro before creating the final .mpg file.

It was a fun first effort and I hope you like it.


Copyright © All rights reserved.

Sometimes I Ain't Too Bright

I'll admit it. It doesn't happen too often but there are, on rare occasions, times when I might not act in the most intelligent manner or do something that would be classed as being bright.

I'm certainly man enough to admit it when I've done something just not right. You know the moments when people look at you and say, "He's not the crispiest chip in the bag."

Well, one such occasion happened just the other day. I had arrived at my parents campsite and after helping to unload some firewood, I decided to start a fire. We had some time to kill before supper and it was a cool afternoon and a fire to sit around and chat would be nice.

Now I've made hundreds and hundreds of campfires in my lifetime. I've been camping every summer my entire life and know how to make a good fire. One thing I've never been accused of is having a fire that wasn't big enough or warm enough.

I shredded a bunch of paper and put it in the fireplace. Next I took some dry wood that will easily burn and get the fire going before adding any heavier wood. You have to build up some heat and coals before you add the big log that will burn for hours.

Everything was going great, until I spotted a can of lighter fluid. I don't recall the exact brand or the exact fluid but it was likely an aliphatic petroleum solvent to light BBQ's or it could have been good 'ol Naphtha. What ever it was, I don't normally use it but thought to myself, "Hmm...why not?" So I opened the can and started pouring it on a bit at a time. I stopped and then thought that a bit more would be a good idea so I more or less soaked the wood and the paper.

I stepped away for a bit to talk and then searched the trailer for the matches and sauntered over the the fire pit. I grabbed a match and proceeded to strike it. It didn't start. I struck it again and this time the match came to life with a nice flame. I bent over and was lowering the match into the pit in anticipation of putting the flame to the paper.

I'm sure you've figured out where I'm going with this story by now haven't you?

Before I could get the match close to the paper, there was an explosion...a big poof if you will, and a large fireball enveloped my hands, arms, head and upper body. I quickly jumped back, and I don't do much of anything quickly anymore, as the shock and heat had me patting my head, face and arms to put out the fire that wasn't even there.

It seems whatever had happened managed to start the fire, however it wasn't enough to set me on fire. Instead, the worst that happened was all the hair on my arms was burnt or singed and the smell of burnt hair was quite pungent. Luckily my eyebrows were still in place and came out of the experience unscathed.

Fortunately there was no real damage and I wasn't forced to "Stop, Drop and Roll" to but out any fire on me. I've certainly learned my lesson. From now on when I light the campfire, I'll be sure to light the match and then throw it in from a distance to ignite the lighter fluid. Come on now...you didn't think I was going to stop using that stuff now did you?

Camping Days Gone By at Presqu'ile

As another camping season has come upon us, I always have a smile on my face at this time of year because more often than not it has always been the best time of every year of my life.

Since the summer I was born (nearly 40 years ago) I have camped at Presqu'ile Provincial Park with my family. As I got older I made a point of visiting them as often as possible while they continued the tradition. The park and the camping experience played a big role in my life and some of my best memories growing up are linked to this place.

Presqu'ile has changed a lot since I was a kid and I'm sad to say, not for the better in many ways. The tree-huggers and bird lovers have forced their opinions on the park and sadly their voices were too loud to stop the parks decline as a summer playground. It is not nearly as well kept as it was in the past and the experience I had in my formative years is not nearly the same for the kids today.

There are too many examples of how the park has been let go from the disappearance of the ball diamond near the Beach Two entrance to the marsh area near the park store that used to be a beautiful lush grassy area where children played and picnics were held. Beach Four has disappeared entirely as the birdbrains lobbied for and turned it into some kind of weed and wild-grass filled nesting area for birds. I can recall a time when the beaches were so full that they had to create that fourth entrance to help with the overflow. Even then the parking lots were jammed full and visitors were forced to park on the main road and walk in. I'm not against birds, (except the Cormorants that destroyed High Bluff Island) but the daily grooming of the entire beach is long gone and the bird droppings have forced many to seek enjoyment elsewhere.

Ahhh but thank goodness I have my memories of a much better time. Of course it didn't start out that way as early on I put a scare into my family. At the age of two I wandered out of the trailer early in the morning and decided to go for a stroll. Of course I don't remember this but as the story goes my mom was terrified that I might have gone to the lake since I loved the water. Ye of little faith. Even at that age I wasn't that stupid. No, I wandered along and was eventually picked up (kicking and screaming) by a nice couple packing up early. Eventually Dad came across me with them and returned me safely to my hysterical mother and my dirty and road oily pajamas had to burnt. Wasn't I a little stinker?

There are just too many memories but here are a few more of my favourites.

I remember the day a friend of my parents brought his cotton candy machine to the park when he visited and plugged it in at the washroom. Kids from all over the park converged on him in droves.

I recall when my Grandpa and Grandma Kennedy would come out to visit. Those nights were always eagerly awaited by our friends from Pennsylvania because this meant it was poker night. Mr. Ellison would hook up a light bulb to his motor home battery so the game could go late into the night. I watched this for many years before I was finally allowed to get in on a game or two.

There was a time when a Park truck would come around the campsites and they would be fogging for mosquitoes. Of course my friends and I would hop on our bikes and blindly ride behind this thing as it drove around. I don't know what pesticides (now banned) they used back then but I can imagine I'll pay for that bit of fun at some point in my life.

Games were a big part of the time spent at the park and it seemed like gambling was involved in all of them. We'd toss quarters. This is when there are two lines drawn in the dirt road and the players would toss quarters from one line to the next and whomever was closest got all the quarters for that round. We should do that one again soon. We'd also play lawn darts for money. I think it was 25 cents for a win and 50 cents for a skunk. The other big game that our friends from the states were big into was Rummy. Hours would be spent drinking beer and playing cards. Those were fun times.

Of course as a young boy in my early and mid-teens, a lot of time was spent hanging out with friends my age like Blair Locke. With Blair and I spending so much time together it was only a matter of time before our parents became close friends as well. I think most of our time was spent chasing girls. Every now and then we got lucky and actually found some that weren't repulsed by boys. This of course led to my getting to "Second Base" for the first time and some fun nights of skinny dipping and getting chased off the beach by the park wardens.

We did plenty of other stuff as well. Riding bikes was always fun and I seem to recall we did that a lot. Mom had some glow-sticks and we'd tape them to our spokes and go riding through the campsites at night listening to everyone as they watched us go by. I can remember coming to a stop late at night and putting my foot down. Moments later I felt something brush past my leg and I looked down to see the white stripe down the back of the skunks back. I got lucky that night and most nights considering we never had lights on our bikes.

The most heroic thing I did happened when I was probably about 16 and in much better shape...back in my football days. Sitting in the trailer with Blair I saw a car coming down the road with no driver. I ran out the trailer and like a dummy I jumped in front of the car and did my best to stop if from rolling into the lake. Thanks to a little help from a woodpile at the edge of the cliff I manged to get it stopped in time. The woman had put the car in drive but forgot her toothbrush in her trailer and got out without putting the car in park...and away it went.

There have been so many great memories at the Park but I think the best memories of all are sitting around the countless number of campfires under star-filled clear summer skies with my family and friends. We'd watch for shooting stars and satellites flying overhead and just finish each day up in a perfect way.

The park has changed and many of the faces have changed over the years but the good times are still being had at my cherished summer getaway place.